By MICHAEL GORMLEY
Associated Press Writer
ALBANY —
Among 26 vetoes, Gov. David Paterson again sank a proposal to create a commission that would promote commemorations of the often forgotten, but critical, War of 1812 against Great Britain on its 200th anniversary.
In vetoing yet another bill on the War of 1812 commission, Paterson rejected a proposal he had criticized in previous versions as too expensive, redundant and a task that advocates and existing historic preservation and tourism agencies could handle.
After his 2009 veto of the bill, sponsors worked with the Governor's Office to revise it and were told it met the office's specifications, said Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, a Westchester Democrat and a sponsor of the bill.
He called the veto "mystifying and hurtful to taxpayers statewide and especially upstate New Yorkers, who would have benefited economically from the increase in tourism this bill would provide."
Plattsburgh, Sackets Harbor on Lake Ontario and the Buffalo-Niagara region were among sites upstate that saw heavy fighting during the War of 1812, which pitted the United States against the British Empire, including Canada.
The war began in June 1812 and lasted almost three years.
